


Yumeno In Borderland

by SoftAngelKisses



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2, 今際の国のアリス | Imawa no Kuni no Alice | Alice in Borderland (TV)
Genre: AU, Alice in Borderland x Danganronpa, Angst, At least there's Amacha though, Card Games, Dark, Death, Diamonds, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Forceful, Gen, General Fic, Grief/Mourning, Hearts, Himiko is obviously the main character, Hurt/Comfort, Killing games, No Oumeno for this one boys, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ouma not Oma, Sexual Violence, Small NSFW Scene, Souda not soda, Suicide, Violence, clubs, spades, suspenseful
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:28:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28852071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoftAngelKisses/pseuds/SoftAngelKisses
Summary: A flighty and sleepy magician and her two best friends find themselves in an alternate reality of Tokyo, Japan. In this new reality, the friends must complete a series of sadistic games in order to survive.
Relationships: Amami Rantaro/Chabashira Tenko, Asahina Aoi & Ogami Sakura, Chabashira Tenko & Yonaga Angie & Yumeno Himiko, Chabashira Tenko & Yumeno Himiko, Fujisaki Chihiro & Oma Kokichi, Harukawa Maki & Yumeno Himiko, Ikusaba Mukuro & Shirogane Tsumugi, Iruma Miu/Yonaga Angie, Mioda Ibuki & Tsumiki Mikan, Other Minor Relationships, Yonaga Angie & Yumeno Himiko
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	1. Dead or Alive

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so I've never done a GEN fic before since most of my fanfictions are romance based, but I have been thinking of writing this for a while now. This is technically an AU, so I am gonna change some things of course.
> 
> This fanfiction is based on this Netflix live-action series called 'Alice in Borderland'. It's based on the 2014 Alice in Borderland anime, I believe! This show is really amazing, and I do recommend it to you guys. Though do keep in mind, there are very graphic scenes(hence why the rating is Explicit for the gorey scenes)in the live-action, so unless you're squeamish of it, I probably recommend not watching it.
> 
> All the tags I place here stay true to the show; 99% accurate! They will be changed if needed, however.
> 
> Every one episode is every one chapter unless it requires a second part to said chapter. I will change some things so it sort of looks... original? I dunno, haha.
> 
> I'll try to post a chapter every Saturday at 11 PM EST, though I won't count on it!
> 
> But anywho, if you're ready to dive in, let's dive in, shall we? :) Put on your seatbelts because this is going to be one wild ride, a wild emotional roller coaster ride that is.

Glitter and dust scattered all over the floor. Playing cards, chains, crumbs sat atop the table of the famous magician, Himiko Yumeno. She practiced her magic skills practically all day, performing and tiring herself out after the next show, constantly trying to motivate herself to continue. Of course, a part of her still loved this particular part of the entertainment industry, but she’s been getting pretty weary of the recurring and often _early_ shows she had been having to perform. She was surprised kids would still go to her shows. She had been performing the same tricks(but Himiko still refers to it as “magic”)ever since high-school, only coming out with new exciting things every few months because she felt too tired and lazy to create anything new.

Yumeno was still a firm believer in magic, so when talking to other people about her job, she seemed childish and immature. Her own family cast her out because she was so “childish” and “immature” for still believing in magic. She was simply raised that way, so she couldn’t help but still believe in magic. Her master taught her many things, to which she was impressed; Himiko very much admired him and strived to be like him one day.

Although ever since the mysterious disappearance of her dear master, she hasn’t been able to focus quite as much as she did before. Her master always guided her through her shows and she had done a show successfully all by herself, but I suppose the spirit simply isn’t there anymore. What a pity.

Yumeno sat at her desk in the living room, pencil in hand, and notebook in the other. She scribbled down idea after idea, crossing out the bad ones, circling good ones. Her magic show is within a week from now and she needs a new magic trick to perform for that day. She was so worried, so focused on her notebook she didn’t even mind the mess she made scrambling for things and just staring at them, trying to think of an idea, but only for her mind to draw a blank.

She furiously scribbled on paper, her frustrations getting the best of her. She was getting good ideas, but she felt it wouldn’t exactly be enough. She needed more. More impressive stuff, more things to blow the crowd away-

“Yumeno, Yumeno, you're still doing that kid stuff, huh?”

The pencil tip snapped, causing her to curse out loud. Yumeno placed the pencil down and laid her head on the desk. Her older sister stood behind the mage with her arms crossed and an annoyed look on her face.

“You skipped the interview I set up again, Yumeno?” she asked her. 

Yumeno didn’t respond. She will admit she purposely skipped the interview to work on this instead- but she had a show in a week and needed time to work on it! She can’t waste time on silly interviews or whatever. She needed to plan!

Yumeno picked her head up from the desk. “...Did I even ask you to do that for me at all?”

“Dad said this is the last time he’s helping. He won’t let me help you look for other good jobs for you that aren’t silly little magic shows.”

Yumeno groaned. “I never even asked for your help in the first place…”

“Well, you need it, honestly. You can’t just do this kid stuff forever, you know. You need to grow up, it’s embarrassing to our image.”

The words took a minute to register in her head, but when it finally clicked, she quickly stood up and closed her book. “Fine, I’ll just leave then.” Yumeno then started to tidy up her area. Koi shook her head. “If only there were a reset button for life.” Yumeno stared at her for a moment before rolling her eyes and exiting the room, but suddenly stopping when Koi spoke again.

“If Mom was alive, you wouldn’t be like this.”

The mention of her dead mother shook her to her core. She still remembers what happened that day… her mom… she…

Yumeno whipped around, wanting to say something to Koi but she noticed the picture frame on her dresser of her and her mom. Yumeno had a big grin on her face, her hands cupping her chubby cheeks, and her mom had a warm smile up to the camera, holding her youngest close. Yumeno didn’t… want to think about this right now. She simply exited the bedroom, leaving Koi there with her thoughts.

  
  


Upon coming downstairs, she planned to walk for a bit when she noticed her father standing at the dining room table. Though paying him no mind, she walked right past him… but of course…

“Himiko…”

Yumeno stopped, sighing. She was honestly not even in the mood to talk to him. She already has enough on her plate, so him just adding onto that with whatever nonsense he has to say will just make it worse.

“I would like it if you would not get in your sister’s way.”

Yumeno looked back at her father, wanting to say something, anything, but no words came out. She needed a break from this… all of it.

Sighing, she walked towards the door and opened it, then exited the Yumeno residence. Once outside, she looked left then right, thinking of what to do. A thought popped into her head and she began walking right, phone in hand. On her screen was a small group chat that consisted of only three people, including her. The names at the top said “Chabashira Tenko, Yonaga Angie(3)”. She sent them both a text.

**Yumeno Himiko:**

Guess who’s now homeless?

  
  


She kept walking while waiting for them to respond, not caring enough to pay attention to exactly where she was going.

-

The message popped up on Chabashira’s phone, but she was too far away and too distracted to even notice it. Distracted from whatever she was doing with her boyfriend, Amami Rantaro.

They touched lips once again, the second time with utmost passion, as they held each other in a loving embrace. 

The pair looked to be in some sort of bar. A cyberpunk aesthetic type; glass bottles and unfinished gadgets laid out on the counter. It typically looked like an ordinary bar but just… with the unfinished tech laid out as well. 

Suddenly footsteps sounded from the back room and the two quickly separated, making it appear they weren’t doing anything... so intimate.

It was their boss. She greeted Chabashira, to which she greeted her back.

“You’re early, Chabashira-san.”

“Ah, uhm… T-Tenko just d-decided to come early, heheheh..” she said sheepishly.

Sweat runs down Amami’s cheeks as he asks why she was here so early. She simply told him that she had something to take care of. The boss put some sort of envelope down on the counter and she took off her watch. What Chabashira didn’t expect though was the unexpected punch heading towards her face from their boss.

Chabashira fell straight onto her back, blood gushing from her nose. The boss swung once again, Chabashira only having enough reaction time to block her punch with her arms. Amami quickly tried to stop the fight by grabbing her by her arm, but their boss gave Amami an almost unexpected punch to his stomach. He backed up instantly, holding his stomach and groaning. The boss turned back to Chabashira and was going to swing when Chabashira blocked her attack by hitting her wrist then using her other hand to push her back by her chin. This caused the boss to trip on absolutely nothing and fall on her back. Chabashira secured her place by putting her foot on her chest. Chabashira breathed heavily as she grinned happily at her work. She looked at Amami who still held his stomach from the pain given and he looked like he was in shock. Chabashira waved it off and said, “Tenko’s okay! Though you don’t look too good…”

“Ehh… y-you think…”

  
  


-

Yumeno texted the group once again, this time asking if Chabashira was there. Although she did get a nice little message from Yonaga, which she jokingly responded to the homeless text.

  
  


**Yonaga Angie:**

Was that the lovely work of Yumeno’s maaaagic?

  
  


Yumeno chuckled at the response but still wondered what the hell Chabashira was doing.

_Ah, what does it matter? Probably doing something reckless again, as always…_

Yumeno finally put down her phone and continued to walk down her hometown, heading towards the city. It was pretty crowded here today in Tokyo.

A question popped into her head and she reached for her phone again.

  
  


**Yumeno Himiko:**

Yonaga, are you working? Can I.. stay at your place for a while ‘til I get back on my feet again?

  
  


A half-joking type of question. 

  
  


With Yonaga in question, she was currently withdrawing money from her bank account to give to her mom. She was going to answer the question but she figured she could answer after giving the money to her mom. She had that same cheery smile on her face; an everyday smile that you almost never see falter. Adulthood has been a little merciful for her, so most of the time the smile she puts on is true.

Yonaga makes her way out of the bank and to her mom who stood at the entrance, waiting for her. With her cheery tone, she handed the envelope of money to her.

“Here you go, okaasan!”

“Ah, thank you, Angie… I’m really sorry that I’m making you do this when you’re so busy… This money will seriously help us, though.”

“No problem, mama! But just… maaaaaybe try to make this the last time, yes?”

“Huh? What do you mean ‘the last time’?” 

“You know what I mean, okaasan!”

“Angie… the air here in Tokyo is being contaminated every day by mankind. We must purify it, dear! Here and here, and there! Everything has to be purified!” 

“Nyahahaha! I know, I know! Oh, I’m late! Sorry mama, gotta go! Byeonara!”

Yonaga quickly made a break for her workplace. She still couldn’t help but smile after the loud ‘thank you’ from her mother.

  
  


-

There was still no answer from Chabashira, so Yumeno privately messaged her, asking if she was ignoring her again. The likelihood of her ignoring her is possible, but she wanted to believe she wasn’t and that she was just busy or something, but knowing her, she’s probably saving somebody since that’s her other job other than working the bar where her boyfriend works at.

When there was still no answer, she just sighed and sent her one final text message with a sticker before switching to another app to do something. It was a fun little game she picked up. It looked cool and it kept her childish mind entertained.

Yumeno then received a new message from Chabashira.

  
  


**Chabashira Tenko:**

Well, uh, Tenko got fired…

  
  


Upon reading the message, Yumeno shakes her head. 

_What bad timing…_

  
  


**Yumeno Himiko:**

Wait, seriously??? When?

**Chabashira Tenko:**

Like, right now. Really fucking sucks.

**Yonaga Angie:**

You really did it this time, Chabashira… do I gotta skip work for you now?

**Chabashira Tenko:**

No no, you should work. You’re pretty poor, Yonaga.

**Yumeno Himiko:**

Nyeh I left home

**Yonaga Angie:**

Sigh…

**Yumeno Himiko:**

I’m kinda thirsty

  
  


**Yonaga Angie:**

Me too! Great minds think alike!

**Chabashira Tenko:**

That doesn’t sound too bad- but only a little! 

**Yumeno Himiko:**

Nyeh go find a job Chabashira

**Yonaga Angie:**

As well as you, Yumeno!

**Chabashira Tenko:**

Let’s all just meet in front of Shibuya Station.

**Yumeno Himiko:**

Okay

  
  


**~**

  
  


Yumeno leaned against the billboard sign near the Shibuya Station. It was actually really busy here at the station. She didn’t exactly expect this many people to be here- most of them consisting of high-schoolers. 

  
  


**Yumeno Himiko:**

I’m totally having the worst… day...

**Yonaga Angie:**

I guess I could kinda say the same!

**Chabashira Tenko:**

Me too…

**Yumeno Himiko:**

I just don’t feel like im doing my best this morning..

**Chabashira Tenko:**

You talkin’ about your magic show??

**Yumeno Himiko:**

Oh found you chabashira

Yumeno waved over at Chabashira who was currently walking towards her.

**Chabashira Tenko:**

HEY!

**Yonaga Angie:**

Hey hey!

**Yumeno Himiko:**

Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey

  
  


“We’re right here, you know,” Chabashira said.

The trio just laughed it off for a bit before Yonaga asked where they’ll go get drinks. Yumeno thought about it for a moment. 

“There’s like… a few pubs open right now, right?”

“Man..” Chabashira leaned against the billboard, hands in pockets, and leaned against Yumeno as well. “Tenko seriously hates this but… guess we got no place to go? Master won’t let Tenko stay with him anymore and Tenko’s family hates her, so…”

“Don’t you live with Amami-san, Chabashira?” Yumeno asked.

“Oh… oh-oh! Well… no, but… Tenko needs to be independent! Tenko’s not gonna depend on a degenerate male!”

“Hmhmm, well Chabashira, he is your boyfriend after all! Staying with him wouldn’t be SO bad…” Yonaga said.

“Yes, but… Tenko needs independence, but Tenko isn’t feeling too great right now thought…”

Yumeno gave a long sigh. “Wish I could use my magic to transport us somewhere cool..!” Chabashira’s face lit up. “Ohhh, you’d use your magic? So cool! So cool!”

“Your magic won’t help us here, Yumeno!”

“Nyeh, I know…”

The three just stood there in silence for a bit, gathering all their thoughts and just thinking about what to do next. Yumeno practically left her home, Chabashira is homeless and jobless, and Yonaga just skipped work just to take care of these two. What else is there for them to do? I mean they could always stay with Yonaga but Chabashira is dead-set on being independent, and knowing Chabashira, she’ll stick with being independent because of her stubborn attitude. 

“Haha, funny thought but, if zombies were to appear in Shibuya, it’d be bad, yes?” Yonaga said cheerfully. “Everyone here turned into nasty zombies and started to bite everyone, haha!” 

Yumeno chuckled at that thought, but Chabashira quickly said, “Stop it, don’t scare Tenko like that! J-Just focus on a shop to go to or something..”

  
  


“Nyeh, if zombies did show up here though, you’ll be the most likely to survive rather than us, Chabashira. You’d knock ‘em out with your Neo-Aikido!”

Chabashira chuckled. “...No, Tenko doesn’t think so..”

Yumeno cocked an eyebrow, confused. “Huh?”

“Tenko thinks you’d survive rather than her, Yumeno-chan…”

“Me? Why?”

“Because Tenko would most likely be the one to protect you, and you’ve learned taekwondo technically so you’re pretty capable of protecting yourself… but mostly because Tenko really believes you could survive…” She looked at Yumeno with this warm smile, a smile Yumeno wasn’t sure why she was giving. 

“You know, you should really not hang out with us anymore… we’re gonna get you in trouble, haha…” Chabashira looked away from her.

“Nyeh, no you’re not… don’t be emo like Saihara, Chabashira.”

Chabashira snickered. “That degenerate… Tenko wonders what he’s doing nowadays…”

“I believe he’s with his new family… the family he created with Akamatsu.”

“Ah, of course..”

The trio soon settled into a comfortable silence once again. Yumeno had to think about that... What did Chabashira mean she’d be the one to survive? Yumeno is not smart, whatsoever- Chabashira would argue she’s pretty smart, but Yumeno doubts it, honestly. 

_Why would I be the one to survive? I’m slow, lazy, dumb… if anything, Chabashira would survive... I don’t know why I’m even thinking about this so deeply…_

Yumeno’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a giddy Chabashira; Suddenly she was on her shoulders. 

“Here we gooo!!!”

“W-WoAH- Ch-Chabashira!!! What are you doing?!”

“This is the first day of your Independence, Yumeno!”

“Wh-What?!”

“Now hush up, and take a picture, Yonaga!!”

“On it, nyahaha!” 

Chabashira carried Yumeno on her shoulders and started walking towards the street, excusing Yumeno and herself along the way. Embarrassed, Yumeno told her to put her down, but Chabashira of course didn’t listen.

“Let’s take a photo!” Yonaga said.

“H-Hey, wait!”

Chabashira started to spin around while Yumeno freaked the hell out and Yonaga started filming, taking a picture as well when getting a good face shot.

“Haha, take the picture!”

“No, stop it! Don’t take my picture!”

“Big smile, Yumeno-chan~!”

“Nyehhh!!”

“Give Yonaga a big smile, Yumeno! Hahahaha!”

“God damn it! Stop it! Put me down!”

Chabashira and Yonaga just kept laughing. “Now that’s a good face, Nyahahaha~!”

Yumeno stopped talking for a moment to look at the scene around her. The people around her just blurred a bit, but only due to Chabashira spinning around. A feeling of euphoria suddenly washed over her… She couldn’t help but smile. To be honest, this was kinda fun. She felt free, I suppose.

Yumeno’s happy, wide-mouthed smile spread across her face. Slowly she raised her hands and laughed along with her best friends. The friends just laughed for fun, not caring about anything right now…

“Shibuya!” Yumeno shouted. “You’re the best, hahaha!”

Interrupting the friends’ feeling of rapture, a car blared which caused Chabashira to put Yumeno down. They were about to rush out the street when cars and motorcycles blew past them, stumping each step. There was a small opening though and they took the chance to escape to the sidewalk. As they ran, Yonaga noticed fireworks in the distance. She pointed towards them, smiling.

While on the run, two cars had managed to swerve into each other and crash. The trio stopped for a moment to stare, completely in shock, though they kept running again, through the crowds, the-

“The police!” Yumeno said.

“Atua tells us to run!” Yonaga grabbed Yumeno's hand and Yumeno grabbed Chabashira’s hand. Chabashira was a moral figure, she didn’t want to run away from this situation. Though, on the other hand, the police aren’t so… sympathetic, so the chance to run away and not get caught seems like the better choice in her opinion.

They ran towards Shibuya station, all of them fumbling to get their IC cards out of their pocket. They scanned their cards and bolted to the stairs but were suddenly met with more policemen and women, so they turned and headed straight to the restrooms. Once inside, the girls opened a stall and hurried inside, then closing the door and locking it. They stood in silence for a while before stifled laughs sounded from all of them. The situation was a bit… sticky, but they managed to quickly get out of it.

Yonaga quickly pulled out her cell-phone, as well as the other two and she sent them a text.

**Yonaga Angie:**

That was a hefty situation, wasn’t it?

_  
  
_

Yumeno and Chabashira looked at Yonaga and nodded. Yonaga texts them again.

**Yonaga Angie:**

I still can’t believe we outran the police, haha. Atua is not mad, so I don’t think the decision we made was bad!

_  
  
_

Chabashira couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Yumeno just shrugged it off. Classic Yonaga; talking about her God and trying to act as his vessel. Never really changed that aspect of her since high-school. Chabashira wishes she didn’t have to depend on a dumb male god, but remembering what she said, this ‘Atua’ is any gender you want them to be, but it’s just that Yonaga thinks he is a man, which bothers her. 

Suddenly, the sound of stall doors being pounded on started the trio. They kept quiet and tried to listen- until the lights went out. The banging stopped... and they also realized that they could not use their phones.

“Wh-What?” Chabashira squeaked.

“Nyeh? What just happened?”

Yonaga shrugged. They all just looked at each other, very very confused on what was going on. Yumeno then pressed her ear against the door, trying to get a better listen of the outside. So far she doesn’t really hear anything, which is really strange considering the fact that there were _just_ people banging on the door.

_  
  
_

“Tenko’ll go out and check!” Chabashira said, hand on the lock. 

Yumeno placed her hand atop hers, shaking her head. “...I’ll do it.”

Chabashira dropped her hands from the lock and stepped aside, letting Yumeno slide open the lock and pulling the door open. Chabashira said to be careful before moving out, which Yumeno reassured her of. An uneasy feeling washed over the mage as she stepped out of the stall. The lights were definitely off, but… the reason as to _why_ is pretty unclear to her.

She observed carefully, just like Shuichi told her. Analyze the scene, make an inference. She crept closer to the exit, her buddies surprisingly following close behind. 

They manage to exit the restrooms, so they looked around for anything suspicious. Well, one thing for sure is that all the surge of people that were once here are now gone. An eerie silence fell over the wave of voices that once crowded the Shibuya station. 

Yumeno glanced outside for a moment but then stopped. The other two had done so as well. The crowd of people outside? They were gone too. How could a crowd like that just go up and disappear like that? In such little time at that.

The trio walked out of the station, staring out into the wild blue and at their surroundings. It confused all three of them, like, seriously, where did everybody go? Did they just go poof and disappear?

They ran out to the big street, still looking around. It was…. so bizarre. So confusing, so… 

“Nyeh? What… what happened?”

_  
  
  
_

~

_  
  
  
  
  
_

Chabashira stared into a dimly-lit room, a dimly-lit bar that was empty. Amami’s jewelry was left on the counter for whatever reason, which was strange to her, and in fact, she was getting pretty… worried. Chabashira frantically started to search for Amami around the bar, checking behind the counter, in the backroom, practically everywhere. Not knowing if something bad happened to her made her worried, anxious, and scared. 

“Rantaro!?” She shouted.

_  
  
_

-

_  
  
_

Yonaga rushed into her work-place, observing that the place was dark and deserted. This was one of the times where Yonaga frowned, showing an emotion other than happiness. She walked over to her desk and saw it was still a mess. The same note her boss gave her about a file she needed to turn in… was still there. Yonaga seriously wondered where everyone went. 

Yonaga rushed to the window in the dark office room where dim light came through the wide, wide window. Hoping to look out of the window hoping to see some sign of movement that was human, she hurried to it, but to no avail. She pressed her lips together. 

“Where did everyone go?’

_  
  
_

-

_  
  
_

Yumeno ran across the city and to the bridge that was usually crowded with people, now seeing that it was empty, like she kind of expected. She walked to the edges and looked down. She saw cars of course and everything looked the same, just no cars were moving and… still no sign of human life. It was so confusing and scary all at the same time. What if something went up and snatched them all? There was absolutely no way the thousands of people there at the station and around Tokyo, in general, could just up and go like that in a small window of time. It was impossible. Surely there would have been at least one sight of someone running or driving somewhere, but just like that? Impossible.

“Are you serious?”

She turned to look some more in complete disbelief. There was seriously... no way a whole society, a whole group- a community of people like that could disappear that fast.

But better yet, where the hell is everyone?

It was like a deserted wasteland now.

Complete, utter silence other than the sound of the wind blowing and the sound of her and her buddies’ voices.

_  
  
_

~

_  
  
_

Yumeno came back to the big multi-way street in the middle of the city where she met up again with Chabashira and Yonaga. 

“Did you find anyone?!” Yumeno asked them.

“Nope!

“No! Tenko could not find anyone, not even Rantaro…”

Yumeno frowned at the mention of Amami’s name. She knows how much Chabashira loves him, and knowing that even HE disappeared is pretty worrisome and upsetting, especially for her. Yumeno pulled out her phone and tried to work it but to no avail. 

“Nyeh… even our cell phones don’t work.”

_  
  
_

-

_  
  
_

The trio sat in the middle of the street and talked for a while until it got dark. Of course, when it did get dark, they went back to the situation at hand.

“You think this is some sort of evacuation or something…?” 

“Tenko doesn’t know…”

“An event?” Yumeno suggested.

Yonaga tapped her chin. “Maybe a flash mob of some sort?”

“The scale is too large for that…”

Yonaga pressed her lips together to form a line. “If it’s only the three of us here…” They all looked at each other for a minute before Yonaga spoke. “...It… doesn’t seem so bad to me, ya know?”

“Wh-What?” Chabashira furrowed her eyebrows.

Yonaga smiled a little. “Isn’t this kind of exciting?”

Yumeno and Chabashira looked at Yonaga like she was crazy.

“Are you insane?!” Chabashira shouted.

Yumeno chuckled. “You’re right, it is kinda nice..” 

“Hey.” Chabashira nudged Yumeno, signaling her to knock it off.

Yumeno’s hand nuzzled her cheek. “I don’t have to go to the magic show that was early this week." Yumeno and Yonaga both laughed at that.

“Have you guys gone crazy??” Chabashira tried to make them realize how bad the situation was.

“Nyoh one would be angry at us…” Yumeno closed her eyes. “And we can eat and drink all we want, right?” 

“Well everyone we love is gone pretty much…” Chabashira suddenly said, getting the attention of both her comrades now, then making them realize the situation… but most likely not caring and going back to laughing about it. Chabashira just looked at them and shook her head. Yumeno then stood and pumped a fist in the air, trying to make the situation seem not as bad as it seems, Yonaga also showing the same feelings. They encouraged Chabashira to stand, which she eventually caved in because she loved them both and they just laughed it off, trying to undermine their feelings of anxiety.

But all their laughing and playing around comes to a stop when a bright white light emits from behind them, causing them to turn around. When they did turn around, they saw what appeared to be a blank white screen. It was attached to a building and it had bars surrounding it- then there were words that appeared, strangely.

_  
  
_

_Welcome, players._

_The Game will commence in a moment._

_  
  
_

Yumeno looked up, confused. _Game?_ Then the words changed again.

_  
  
_

_This way to the game arena._

_\---------------- > _

_  
  
_

The trio looked to their right and looked for the entrance when Yumeno pointed up. “Over there!” They looked up and saw bright red lights in the distance. Yonaga tilted her head. “There are lights…”

“Then that must mean there are people there!”

They glanced at each other before Chabashira told them they should go, to which they agreed and ran to the “game arena”. 

_  
  
_

~

_  
  
_

The group of friends manages to get to their destination and stop in front of a building called the “GM Building”. It looked like a… fancy restaurant and hotel combined. Some of the lights were out on some of the letters but they could still easily read the sign atop the building. There were cars at the entrance, so they could only assume there would be people inside. It had an eerie essence, which makes Yumeno and her friends pretty… hesitant.

They walked inside the place and noticed the sign signaling where the “Game Arena” was located, which was up ahead. They stand there for a good couple of minutes, a little hesitant to go directly _inside_ the place. Yumeno glanced at them, both of whom nodded, reassuring her. The trio slowly enters the creepy establishment. 

Upon entering, they noticed an arrow pointing to the left, insinuating where they’re supposed to go. Still wary, they turn and spot an elevator. Strange. They traipsed towards a window that had an assortment of cell phones and a sign that said ‘1 Per Person’. The group looked at each other for- however many times-then chose a phone. Text appeared on each of their phones and it… was seemingly a face recognition. 

_The hell?_ Yumeno thought. _Why does this thing need face recognition?_

_  
  
_

“Ohhh, it has facial recognition!” Yonaga said.

“Do we use these phones?” 

Yumeno looked at the top and found there were no bars on hers. “...There’s no signal…” She furrowed her eyebrows. “We can’t make calls with this…” A chime rang from one of their cell-phones.

_Please wait for the game to commence. There are two participants. One minute remains until registration closes._

_  
  
_

“What… the hell is this?” Yumeno asked. She looked at Yonaga and Chabashira for an answer but they just shook their heads. They didn’t know either, so…

**“A game.”**

Startled, they turned to see whoever spoke and they… saw their good friend, Iruma Miu, standing there. There was someone here, finally. Though, they didn’t expect it to be Iruma.

“I-Iruma!” Chabashira exclaimed.

“Yo! I didn’t think I’d see you girls here. Tencrotch, Atua Slut, and Titless.”

“Nyeh… I… I grew a few inches, you know…”

“Nice to see you two, Iruma! Nyahahaha!”

“H-Hey, do you… uh… know where everybody else went?” Chabashira asked the inventor.

Iruma walked towards them, stopping at Yonaga and digging inside her pocket for her work key. She turned and threw the key behind her and the key literally charred brown and black. They stared in complete shock. 

“What the hell was that just now!?” Chabashira shouted.

A hole burned right through the key as if it was…

“A laser?!” Yonaga gasped, mouth agape.

Iruma sighed, looking at the girls. “Cross the borderline and you’ll end up just like that.” Iruma pressed her lips together to form a line. “You have no choice but to play the game.” The trio just stared dumbfoundedly as Iruma picked up a phone. 

_A game? No choice? What… what is this?_

Yumeno began to walk towards this ‘borderline’ and there it was. She stopped before anything could happen, to which Chabashira let out a yelp. Yep, definitely a borderline.

“Yumeno… you heard what Iruma said. Don’t cross it.”

“Yeah, titless, unless you wanna have a nice hole right through your head and instantly die.”

Yumeno backed up finally after hearing those bone-chilling words until another voice sounded through the hallway causing them all to look.

“Oh- Oh! I..I’m so relieved…”

A blue-haired girl was there. She appeared in a schoolgirl uniform- but her skirt looked more plaid than just a solid color. The blue-haired girl trotted over to them. “Geez, I thought I wouldn’t find anyone here--!”

“H-Hey, watch out! You’re gonna--”

Fortunately, she walked past the borderline without getting a hole through her head. They stared, very confused. Iruma rolled her eyes and gave her a phone. “My condolences.” The blue-haired girl took it hesitantly, then the same chime emitted from the phone again.

_  
  
_

_Registration has closed._

_The game will now commence._

_  
  
_

“Game?”

_Game: ‘Dead or Alive’_

_Difficulty: Three of Clubs._

_  
  
_

“Three of clubs?” Yonaga said.

Chabashira furrowed her eyebrows. “What does that mean?”

_  
  
_

_Rule:_

_Select the correct door within the stipulated time frame._

_  
  
_

“What?” Yumeno was surely confused about this whole thing. I mean, there is a blackout, they join a game they can’t get out of, and just… 

_  
  
_

_Clear Condition:_

_Leave the building within the time limit._

_  
  
  
_

The elevator opened up and there was another sign that said ‘Start’. Iruma immediately walked to the elevator, but everyone else hesitated. Iruma sighed. “You’ll die if you keep spacing out like a bunch of idiots.” They all looked at each other for a second before the blue-haired girl stepped onto the elevator. Then there was just the trio, but Chabashira encouraged them to go by telling them that they have no choice, then walked onto the elevator. Yonaga and Yumeno quickly followed after. The elevator doors close and they go to their destination.

_  
  
  
  
~  
  
  
  
_

The elevator door opened and the chime sounded once again.

  
  


_The time limit for this room is two minutes._

  
  


Time started to count down and everyone walked out of the elevator. What was presented upon them were two doors. One has the picture of an anime girl that has wings. It had the word _Live_ written on it. The second door has a picture of a skeleton and the word _Die._

“Tenko is so confused...:”

“To live, or to die,” Iruma said. 

“Eh… Atua is telling me he doesn’t know if this is an actual game or not. Strange… Atua knows all, but this… he does not know…”

“Will ya shut up about ya damn God, Yonaga?!” Iruma scowled at the mention of Atua. She and Atua have history together, in a comedic way.

“Hmhm, this is getting exciting!” Yonaga hit a video recording feature on her phone and suddenly began recording. “Atua is sure these are just… doors to an art gallery!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This is serious.” Iruma looked at Yumeno and Chabashira who were approaching the _Live_ door. They observed it carefully, looking for any clue that might help them know which one to go through.

“...I wanna go home…” The blue-hared girl said.

Yonaga turned to her and grinned. “It’ll be fine… Atua is watching over us! He will protect us!”

“A-Atua…?”

“Yonaga, if you don’t shut up. Atua is not gonna save us!”

_One minute remaining._

“Yumeno…” Chabashira said. “Which door do you think it is?”

Yumeno huffed, looking between the two doors.”Well if it’s a choice of life or death, I wouldn’t choose the death door!” Yonaga made a point… of course, this does seem like a trick question, but is it really?

Yumeno huffed again and turned to Iruma. “And if we choose the wrong door?” Iruma furrowed her eyebrows. “The answer is Live.” They all looked at the Live door. “Open the door that says _Live_.”

Yumeno turned back to Iruma. “...How do you know?”

“Tch, because it’s kinda obvious it would be that door!”

Yumeno didn't respond but she side-eyed her. Something about her body language made what she said seem kind of suspicious. 

“Heyy, do you guys smell something?”

Everyone else sniffed the air; Chabashira looked down and recoiled. “Smoke!” Everyone else looked at the floor too and they could see smoke emanating from the vents in the floor. Someone shouted fire and they all started to cough excessively.

  
  


_Thirty seconds remaining._

  
  


“The answer is Live!” Iruma shouted. “Hurry and open the door!”

“Open it yourself!”

“Atua asks what will happen if our time is up?”

“There’s no fucking time! Open the damn door now!”

“Nyehh, why do you think it’s the right answer??”

“Well, cleaaarly we shouldn’t- _eugh-_ choose die! Though I don’t mind seeing Atua…”

  
  


_Twenty seconds remaining._

  
  


“I can’t take it anymore! I can’t breathe!” The blue-haired girl ran over to the Live door and opened it, but… unexpectedly she got shot through her head and her, now dead body, fell to the ground with the door closing after. 

All of their eyes literally bugged out at the sight. Yonaga tilted her head. “...Did she die?”

_Ten seconds remaining._

Iruma turned her head to the other door and hurried over to it, opening it. A countdown from 5 then began.

_5._

Chabashira and Yumeno headed straight to the room.

_4._

_3._

Yonaga stood, still curious about that girl. Yumeno looked back “Yonaga!” She ran to her, pulled her by her arm, and by one second left, they escaped, the previous room going up in flames. Good thing Chabashira closed the door in time.

Another chime rang from the phones.

  
  
  


_The time limit for this room is one minute and fifty seconds._

  
  
  


Chabashira pants, looking up at everyone else. “That poor girl, she… she’s… _dead…”_

“Wh-What the hell is this?!” Yumeno scowled and walked to Iruma. “How could you do that, Iruma?!”

“But you survived because of me! Be thankful we all didn’t fuckin’ die in that room!”

“What?!” Now Chabashira was getting worked up too. Iruma furrowed her eyebrows. “Blame me all you want! I don’t give two diddly shits! I saved your asses. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll fuckin’ die too, Tencrotch!”

Chabashira really… didn’t like that nickname all too much, especially since it used part of her first name as well. “D-Damn it!” Chabashira paced around anxiously. “Do we choose _Die_ here too?”

“Nyeh, since the last one was Die, it has to be the Live door now…” Yumeno replied. 

“Yes! But… what if that’s wrong?! What if they want us to think that? Ahhhhhhhh--”

“But- it’s hard to choose Die.”

“Wait a second.” Iruma interrupted. They both looked at her. “I think this might be a game where we have to sacrifice somebody each time we go through a door.”

“S-Sacrifice??”

Iruma glanced at the Live door. “These doors have no meaning. What matters is the person opening them. They’re telling us to choose within the time limit.”

“Iruma, you… you sacrificed that girl..” Yumeno said. “Why don’t you open the next door?”

“A-Are ya kidding!? I need to fuckin’ survive! People need my inventions! You guys would be stuck without me!”

“That’s great and all, but what about us!?” Chabashira shouted.

Meanwhile, Yonaga was just observing the doors quietly, not giving input on really anything. 

_One minute remaining._

Yumeno shook her head. “No one will open the door at this rate…” 

“We’re all gonna die in the fire if time runs out!” Chabashira turned around and faced the Death door. Iruma looked at Yumeno. “Then why don’t you open it? Why ask me to open it?! Do it your-fuckin’-self!”

The group started to cough again as smoke once again started filling the air. Yumeno cleared her throat before saying, “Fine, I’ll open it.”

“A-Are you sure? Tenko’ll be there with you if it’s the wrong answer and pull you back!”

“Nyeh, I’ll be fine…” She began making her way to the Live door but stopped. A feeling told her to go to the Die door so she did. Chabashira tried to tell her not to be provoked by Iruma’s words. She couldn't help but feel provoked though. In a situation like this, who knows what really is the answer? She could be right or wrong and we’ll never know. This game requires you to think, for sure. She has gotten better with these types of things so thinking is not as challenging for her as it was then. Either that or she’s just lazy, which she had been trying to get out of ever since high-school.

Yumeno hesitantly placed her hand on the knob, her body trembling and sweating from the riddling anxiety and fear within her. This choice could determine if she dies or not, which definitely scares her. Plus the fact that in…

_Thirty seconds remaining._

Thirty seconds, they’ll all be burnt to a crisp. While she didn’t want her friends to die, she didn’t want to die either. She hasn’t even gotten a partner yet! She hasn’t gotten married! She hasn’t even found her master! She didn’t want to die here… not now…

This led to Yumeno chickening out and crouching down, staring dejectedly at the floor.

“Hmph, s-see. It’s not that fuckin’ easy, now is it? You would’ve sacrificed Maizono too!”

“Shut up! Yumeno would never have done something like that!”

“Eeeh!!”

_Twenty seconds remaining._

Chabashira sighed. “Tenko’ll do it…” She walked to the Live door. “We’ll take turns!”

“Chabashira!”

“You survive for us, okay?” Chabashira looked at Yumeno and smiled warmly. Yumeno didn't really know how to respond other than calling out her name again.

“Hell no, I’m not dying!”

“Well, she isn’t either!”

_Ten seconds remaining._

“Chabashira…”

Chabashira took a deep breath and opened the door.

You can only guess the amount of relief when she found out what happened.

  
  


Of course, it was the right door.

The countdown started once again, leading them to rush out of the room.

_5._

Iruma and Yonaga ran in.

_4._

_3._

_2._

“Hurry!”

_1._

Yumeno got up quickly and sprinted to the door, barely managing to escape. Soon that room went up into flames, which Iruma closed the door just in time.

_The time limit for this room is one minute and forty seconds._

  
  


“The time l-limit is shortening each time…” Yumeno said.

“Atua tells us not to worry and that we’ll be okay!”

“...We’re taking turns…” Chabashira looked at Iruma. “You’re next.” She stood up and stomped towards Iruma, making her shake in her shoes. “Ahhh!! B-B-Be gentleeee… mmmmm-!”

“Wh-What?!” Chabashira blushed profusely. “H-Hell no, you’re opening the door!” Chabashira grabbed Iruma’s arm and dragged her to the Live door. “O-Open the door!”

“N-Noooooo!”

“Just open it!”

Iruma cowered in her presence. “I-I-I… I can’t…” Chabashira scowled at her but didn’t push it any further. She turned her attention to Yumeno. “Hey, you were under Saihara’s detective influence, right? Any ideas?”

Yumeno bit her nail, glancing at her phone for some sort of idea to come to mind.

_Think, Himiko, think! Remember what Saihara told you… Observe and infer. Analyze and hypothesize._

Yumeno looked around the room for a clue, any clue that can help her solve this puzzle. Now that she was under Saihara’s influence, she knew how to solve puzzle games like these, though she was still having a hard time with this. I mean the constant panic and fear lingering there kept clouding her mind, which made it harder to solve. 

“Think, Yumeno! Remember all that Saihara and Kirigiri-sama taught you! There might be a hint somewhere.”

A hint… oh, if only she could _find_ that hint, they’d be outta there lickity-split. 

Then it hit her.

_The layout of the GM Building…_

“Wait… wait a minute…” 

“Hmm, yesss Yumenooo?” Yonaga put her hands together.

She doesn’t know why but… she remembers the layout of the building. The car outside, what brand it was and the license plate. Her brain somehow latched onto that memory and just now remembered it.

_Thirty seconds remaining._

“BMW 523d..”

“Huh?”

“...It was a BMW 523d…”

“Yeah?”

_So if the BMW is located here, and the doors face this way, then that means…_

“The answer is Die!”

Iruma cocked her eyebrow. “H-How do you know?”

“I… used my magic…”

_Ten seconds remaining._

“Ahhh, we got no time! Die it is! Tenko believes in Yumeno- she- she used her magic, after all!”

“Titless, if you kill us all, I’m- gonna kill YOU in Heaven!”

Yumeno looked at the door. “I’ll open it…” She hurried over to the door. Yonaga spoke up again.

“Are you sure this is the right door, Yumenooo?”

“I-I’m sure…”

_5._

_4._

Yumeno quickly opened the door, and when she didn't die, she cried out in relief. “This is the right one!”

_3._

_2._

Everyone hurried through the door, barely escaping that time as well.

_1._

And of course the previous room burst into flames, Chabashira closing it just in time. 

  
  


_The time limit for this room is one minute and thirty seconds._

  
  
  


“The BMW… I noticed outside… that it’s a length of 4 meters and 94 centimeters... That was parked outside the building! I... I remember that… the length of this building, right? It’s as long as four of those cars outside! And by… that I can say…”

“That the building is approximately 20 meters in length!” Iruma finished.

“Y-Yeah!” 

“And this room,” Iruma looked around. “I can confidently say it’s about 28 centimeters long!”

“And if I just count with my feet..” Yumeno counted the steps in her head. _One, two, three, four… five, six…_ She looked back up. “It would be six meters in length! A-And according to the evacuation map, the elevator is at the corner of the building! The… shape of the building is a square….”

“Wow, Yumeno! You're so good at this- they must have taught you well!” Chabashira gushed.

“A-And this room is… what I can guess to be square too! And so, assuming one side of the building is 20 meters, and the rooms are 6 square meters in… size, there- there can only be three rooms on each side!”

“Ohh, you’re amazing, Yumeno!”

_One minute remaining._

“I- I need something to write on!”

Iruma dug in her pockets and pulled out a napkin. Yonaga handed Yumeno a pen that was in her pen pocket. Yumeno got on the ground and began to write on it. She drew a square and divided it into 9 parts.

“We’re in a square building… assuming that each room is square, that means that th-this floor should have 9 rooms!”

“Ohhh~, it’s like a puzzle game!”

“Go Yumeno!!”

“You’ve gotten pretty smart girlie, ever since high-school.”

“Nyeh, thanks. Anyway, we started in this room!” She pointed to the bottom left square. “Maizono died in this room.” She points to the second, bottom left square. “Thanks to Chabashira, we moved forward! This means that the door to the right can’t be accessed. Then I opened the door to this room--” she drew an arrow to the second top left. “Through the process of elimination, these two rooms we can’t go through,” She looked up at them. “I’m sure of that.”

_Ten seconds remaining._

They all stood up, turning their attention to the Die door. “The answer is Die! The Live door is a trap!”

_4._

_3._

_2._

The group sprinted towards the door, opening it and escaping the previous room. The room was engulfed in flames and Chabashira again slammed the door shut.

  
  


_The time limit for this room is one minute and twenty seconds._

  
  


“If your reasoning is correct, Small Tits, then we might all just fuckin’ survive!” Iruma remarked.

“Splendid work, Yumeno!” Yonaga grinned.

“Yeah!”

Yumeno smiled a little. “Thanks… but I couldn’t have done it without Saihara… but let’s continue!” She wrote something down on the napkin. “And according to my drawing, the next door is Die too!” Everyone nodded, heading straight to the door, which Yumeno’s calculations were indeed correct! 

“Yahah! Yumeno does it again!!!” 

“Nyeh! Yes! Ah… okay... “ She draws another line. “The next door is... _Live_!” They sprinted, entered, and closed the door. They cheered for another correct calculation of Yumeno’s. I seriously made her even smarter, which I’m glad to do!

Though once entering the room, Yumeno frowned. Now the doors are not beside each other, rather opposite of each other. Now she was entirely thrown off. Where does this door connect to?

The group looks down at his paper and Yonaga says, “Hm… so if the right door is out of the question, perhaps we should choose the door on the outer wall?” Iruma, Chabashira, and Yonaga all moved to the Die door, but Yumeno stopped them.

“Wait! I… I might’ve missed something…”

“Aw, Small tits, come on!”

_Fifty seconds remaining._

Yumeno had to remember back to the layout of the building

_If I’m right, the room we’re in is in the back left corner of this building. The… clearing condition is to leave the building.. That’s why we would… feel compelled to choose the Death door, but… if I recall, there is no gap! It leads us outside, yes, but… outside the building, and to our death, basically. The Live door leads us to where the high-school girl died… Why isn't there a door to the rear end of the building?_

_I must have overlooked something… what could it be? No tricks for where the rooms we’ve come through, so if that’s the case then…_

The realization hit her, but the smoke hit them first.

“Ohh, damn it! We’re wasting time! We’re all gonna fuckin’ die!”

“You didn’t even open a door!”

“Don’t blame this on me, sugartits!”

“Sugartits?!”

_A video…_

“Yonaga! You took a video of the first room, remember?”

“Ah, yes I did!”

“We don’t have time, idiots!”

Yumeno trotted to them and took a hold of her phone, watching the video for clues. The mage fast-forwarded the video until she got to the girl. She noticed the detail right away.

“There’s… no door!”

“Eh?”

“There’s no door where Maizono entered!”

“So what??”

“There’s a door here!”

_Ten seconds remaining…_

“What do you mean?” 

Yumeno writes on the napkin again. She drew a line on the room the pop singer died in, which was the second top left, and created two uneven boxes. “The room where she died wasn't actually a square, so there’s another room behind that door!”

“Man, maybe you should work for me or something, Yumeno.”

“I’d… rather not-”

“Enough chit-chat!”

_5._

_4._

_3._

_2._

_1._

The group sprinted to the Live door, opening it and three of them managed to get through safely, but unfortunately, Yonaga wasn’t. The fire blasted through the vents with her still caught in it, causing her leg to catch on fire. She cried out in pain, desperately trying to shake it off.

“Ahhhh! F-F-F-Fire!”

“And there’s the frowny, scared face! You were looking inhumane back there!”

  
  


_The time limit for this room is ten seconds._

  
  
  


“Ten seconds?! Are you kidding me?!” Chabashira took off her jacket and tried to put the flame out. Iruma made her way to the door but Yumeno called out, “Stop! That’s a trap door!”

_5._

_4._

Yumeno rushed to the Die door and she quickly opened it.

_3._

“Hurry!!!” Chabashira hoisted Yonaga onto her back and ran out, followed by Iruma of course. They quickly slammed the door shut while the room they were previously in has been burned to a crisp. They stumbled down the hallway and Iruma asked where to go, to which Yumeno replied by pointing her finger and telling them to go downstairs, which they did. They trotted down the stairs, and once down there, they stopped to take a breather, which they deserved.

Their cell phone chimes, but this one is different.

_Game Clear._

_Congratulations._

  
  


“It’s… all thanks to you… Yumeno… that we survived…” Chabashira said through each breath, looking up and smiling cheerfully at her. Yumeno smiled back.

Of course they did have to tend to their injured friend whose leg got charred by the fire. Poor Yonaga… 

“Thank you… ah… you’re smarter than I thought, Small Tits..”

“Nyeh, stop calling me small tits… I have a name you know…”

“I...I guess this is… eh… my karma, huh?” Yonaga said, who was SMILING even in excruciating pain. 

“Girl, how are you SMILING RIGHT NOW?!” 

Yumeno noticed the table in front of them and there was an item. She slowly stood and walked over to the table, noticing that it was a playing card. Not like she hasn’t seen those before.

It had the **three of clubs** on it, which, surprise-surprise, was the difficulty of the game. Everyone else gathered behind her to also look. They were pretty confused about why they were given that card.

Yet again, a different chime emitted from these wack-ass phones. 

  
  


_To the survivors of the game, we will now supply you with a three-day visa._

  
  
  


“Visa?” The quadrio looked at each other, highly confused.

Then footsteps approached the group. It appeared to be a man- but his clothes were all messed up. They were tattered and burnt, as well as their messy hair. There was also blood on his sleeve, _a lot_ of blood.

He stopped, and when they realized who he was, they all just stared.

“Hey, you guys…”

It was... Gonta. He looked so… hurt, so- he was injured, he-

“Gokuhara!” Yumeno shouted. “Oh my- oh my god!”

Gonta looked down. “Gonta… can’t do this anymore… he can’t play this game anymore… Gonta wants to drop out… but Gonta learned something, and Gonta wants you guys to hear…”

“N-No, don’t drop out, you’ll die!” Iruma cried.

“No matter… how many times you clear a game, it won’t end. The games won’t end… Gonta’s visa ends today..”

“No-nonono- Gokuhara!”

“Gonta is sorry… he couldn’t make it to the end… Gonta’s time ends now..”

Yumeno reached out to him, but… it was too late. The laser, in the sky, struck him in the head, killing him instantly. Yumeno just stared in horror. She… just watched another person… die, one that was her friend…

Just then, all the lights shut off, insinuating that this game _was_ really over. Maybe the game is, but there’s obviously more to come..

The group slowly walked to the corpse of the Ultimate Entomologist, their… bug-loving friend, nowhere, in front of them, dead. They certainly weren’t expecting that, honestly. Iruma had to speak about this though.

“When your… visa expires, you… must return to the game or, well, you die.”

Yumeno looked at her phone. “Our… visa will end too…”

“We’ve got three days…”

Iruma furrowed her eyebrows. “If you don’t wanna die, we’ll have to keep playing the games…” Yumeno stared at her phone for a good minute before turning to stare at the sky. Above it all, red lasers appeared from thin air, killing people who fail the game, try to leave, or their visa ends. A new world they’re living in… it doesn’t seem like a good world, no, not seem- it _definitely_ isn’t a good world.

Well, a new day starts tomorrow. It seems they’ll really have to play these games. I mean, if it’s for survival, they have no choice…

Right?


	2. A Game of Tag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Angie injured and Iruma left to take care of her, Yumeno and Chabashira head out to gain more... "experience". They come to a sprawling apartment, where a deadly game of tag soon awaits them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are at Episode 2! Okay, so, hope you're liking the story so far! I sure am. I'm practically watching Alice in Borderland once again! Man, that show is so heart... breaking... I feel bad for what I'm going to do in the next few chapters...
> 
> Since I am attempting to make you guys feel some sort of way during this, I will, uh, make it... sad, upsetting, ya know, lol.
> 
> Uh, by the way, I'm going to go back and edit all this when I've finished the 8th chapter, which is. whereas of now, the story is at a pause. The next season of this show will probably come like, next year maybe? I dunno, just there was confirmed season two, so when that comes, the story will probably be left off there until season 2 comes, so yeah! 
> 
> This episode is real crazy! You'll get to meet some cool characters too~ Hope you enjoy it!

_Deep within the expansive summits of the grand Mountain Hotaka, we have our very skilled but generally cold-hearted high-class level Ultimate Assassin, Harukawa Maki._

_The assassin struggled to climb the steep mountain top that she practiced her muscle strength on, although she did manage to get pretty far. Unfortunately, her hand slipped and she fell back, gasping as she plummeted, almost forgetting the rope attached to her body keeping her from reaching her death. Her father above her quickly caught her just in time, thankfully. She held on tight to that rope, hoping her father wouldn’t drop her._

_“You need to focus!”_

_She looked up as her father called her name. He seemed to be struggling to keep her up as well. Harukawa wasn’t that heavy, but he is holding up an adult woman with one hand and a rope, so of course it would be difficult to hold her up without struggling._

  
  


_-_

With closed eyes, she couldn’t help but remember that time with her father. He was the main one who taught her all that she would know. Though it would be strange to call him such since originally she lived at an orphanage until an assassin family took her in and trained her to her core. She almost neglected her everyday needs just to train and become the person she is today, but she isn’t so fond of… interaction, per se. She’s pretty reserved, most of the time. She does remember her friends and classmates from Hope’s Peak. She kinda missed them; A bit of an understatement, but hey?

Harukawa stared down from the rooftops, observing every time that red laser would come through and murder people. She is used to people dying, really. She is an assassin after all, but this is different. This time… maybe she shouldn’t kill in order to survive, but play and hopefully win in order to survive.

“It’s okay, otousan…” Harukawa knitted her eyebrows. “I’m gonna survive.”

  
  


**~**

  
  
  


After the recent game the crew had played, they decided to stay at Iruma’s place for a while until they figured things out. Yumeno had expected to see their good friend Kiibo Idabashi while inside, but surprise-surprise, he was gone too. Miu had explained that he somehow got up and left too and didn’t know where he went. It was as if he disappeared-- which is no surprise considering the fact that Amami too had vanished, so who figured Kiibo wouldn’t have also not wake up somewhere strange?

The group girls decided Yonaga stay home while the rest of them go out and look for stuff they needed, such as food, supplies, anything you need! As I had stated before…

Yumeno approached a car that was seemingly unlocked. Curious, she opened the door and climbed inside. She noticed it was one of _those_ cars that had a button on it so you could actually turn the car on, but when she pressed it, the car wouldn’t turn on. She noticed a key in the ignition and she turned it, but the car still didn’t turn on. She let out a frustrated sigh, leaning against the seat. A strange, foul odor caught her nose and she sniffed around to find the source. She found it alright. A bag of… something besides the seat. She hesitantly reached for it to look inside and found a bunch of rotten fruit and vegetables. It was… very, very disgusting. She wrinkled her nose and stumbled out of the car, slamming it shut. Well, nothing here. Looks like she’ll have to keep looking.

-

With Chabashira and Iruma, they were looking around the mall for anything they could use. They traveled up the escalator and made it to the ‘Furniture and Interior Goods’ floor. They both picked a shop and walked in. Even then, the mall was pretty much a wasteland as well. 

Chabashira picks up a clip point knife from a shelf and smirks. “Found a weapon for you guys to use!” She threw it up in the air.

“Weapon?” Iruma scoffs. “Bitch, I don’t need a weapon.”

She catches the knife. “Maybe you don’t but Yonaga will.” Iruma searches for a different shelf; Chabashira walks to the other side of her shelf and looks at her through the shelf wih a smirk. “You can’t use electricity and gas either, right?”

  
  


Iruma lifted a white pot. “But I can still use my portable stove. It works just as well as any other stove. Maybe even better.” Chabashira shook her head, walking away from the shelf.

  
  


-

  
  


“Huh… I’ve worked with stuff like this before… Unfortunately, it’s no good,” Yonaga said as she laid on the guest bed in Miu’s home. “All the IC chips have gone kablooeh!” 

“Seriously?”

“Video cameras, digital clocks, anything that operates on an… ehm, circuit board won’t function at all.” The artist picks up a portable radio. “But these things still work, huh? Since they don’t have IC chips...”

Yumeno tilted her head. “What does that mean?” Yonaga began to think about what could have caused this. She vividly remembers… _the fireworks._ The fireworks that shot in the distance when they were running from the police. Yonaga rubbed her chin. “It could have been uh… what’s it called… oh! An electromagnetic pulse attack! Hm, guess college really did help with these things.” Yonaga looked at Yumeno. “I read about this on the internet. When fired into the… stratosphere, it’s pretty much capable of destroying the electronics of an entire city!”

“Really?”

Yonaga nods. Though if that was the case then why are the phones they’re using still operating? Quite frankly, she didn’t get it. She held up the cell phone they used. “So… why do these still work?”

“Hmmm,” Yonaga tapped her chin. “I don’t know! Maybe Iruma knows about it? Atua doesn’t know either.” 

Yumeno shrugged, not really giving it much thought. She stared down at the phone, tracing the rim of the case. She honestly couldn’t believe they were in this situation. How did they even manage to get into this situation? Why and where are they(besides the obvious)? Where did nearly all of Tokyo go?

The loading icon appeared on Yumeno's phone and, confused, she quickly tapped on it, but it had no effect. She sighed, putting the phone down. “What good are these phones if we can’t charge them..?”

  
  


-

  
  


Once everyone gets back from their long journey of searching for supplies, everyone comes together to eat some food. They gather around the dinner table, eating… mostly canned food. Iruma prepared most of it for them, which was kind of a shocker considering what kind of person she is. Well, I guess when your comrades are in dire need, you can’t help but help them. It wasn’t too out of character for her to worry though. Sometimes they forget that they’re not high-schoolers anymore.

“Mmm… this is really good!” Chabashira said.

“Mhm! You make lovely dinners, Iruma!” Yonaga happily slurped her soup bowl.

“Uh, thanks. I’m pretty amazing, huh?”

“Mmm, yup…” Yumeno held her soup bowl in hand while her face basked in the warmth of the soup. 

“Nyaha! We haven’t eaten anything since yesterday!”

Iruma laid down her chopsticks, knitting her eyebrows. “Hey… what were you guys doing there anyway?” They looked at her, confused. Iruma waved her hand. “When everyone disappeared, I mean.”

“Nyeh, we were in a bathroom.”

“All in the same stall!” Yonaga added.

“Haaah? Why were you all in the same stall? Were y’all touchin’ each other or something?” Seems the perverted jokes didn’t even stop at her youth-youth.

“No! Where were you, Iruma?” Chabashira asked, waving her chopsticks around.

Iruma stared at Chabashira as a flashback passed through her mind. Her… other job other than being an inventor and earning money. The last client she had she remembered looked fairly old. The experience was decent, to say the least; she honestly thought her experience with Kiibo to be better.

Iruma averted her eyes. “Building inventions, d’uh… in my lab, downstairs… I was… building and like, I was hungry, so I went to pester Kiibo but upon… going upstairs, I saw a lot of our stuff was off and Kiibo disappeared…”

“Nyeh, did you see or hear anything?”

Iruma stayed quiet for a while to think. She… does remember walking out of a shower and seeing some things, but they didn’t need to know that.

“No,” she replied. “I had to manually modify the house so that the lights would work. I was forced to play this dumb ass game like everyone else… the first game I played, everyone fuckin’ died except for me!”

Chabashira wasn’t one to assume, but… “You mean you used them as bait?”

“Sure, whatever you say.” Irum furrowed her eyebrows. “I just wanted t’fuckin’ survive, ya know?” Well, can you really blame her? I probably would have done the same thing. I mean survival is a natural instinct we all have and can’t control. She wanted to survive, and I’m sure everyone does, but just… some aren’t so lucky, and in this case, she was practically the lucky one.

Chabashira sighed, leaning back in the chair. Yumeno tapped her fingers on the table. “What kind of game was it?”

  
  


Iruma sighed. “I was at a subway station… they used poisonous gas in the game.” She paused for a moment before speaking again. “...Every-one of those fuckers were pukin’ up blood! Even out of their god damn eyes-- I will never forget that sight…” That truly does seem like a disturbing sight. Everyone else was a bit freaked out by that, even Yonaga seemed visibly disturbed.

“Ah… that’s…. strange, isn’t it?” Yumeno put down her chopsticks. “Everyone disappeared… it was yesterday for the three of us.”

“Yeah!”

“But it was three days ago for Iruma. Why the time difference?”

Chabashira nodded. “You’re right!”

“And those vegetables I found in that car were rotten,” Yumeno furrowed her eyebrows. “It was only a few days since everyone disappeared. Why?”

The question was left up in the air for a bit. It was strange how that worked. Iruma started the game three days ago, but Yuemno, Chabashira, and Yonaga started yesterday? Something is definitely up, but what could be the reason for this?

“Maybe,” Iruma said. “The way time passes? Maybe it’s different from the normal time?”

“Nyeh?”

Iruma backtracked. “I don’t… really know, but...the four of us here, right? The timeline of when people disappeared is different like you said.”

Yonaga swayed. “Atua thinks we may have time-traveled while in that stall!”

“Well your god is wrong! That’s not even possible! ...yet!”

“Mmm, isn’t it also impossible for people to randomly disappear?”

“Time travel isn’t real, Yonaga.”

A slight shadow had cast over the artist’s eyes. “Then explain the game and the people disappearing.”

Sweat rolled down her face. “G-Geez, well Tenko doesn’t know, but Tenko just knows time travel doesn’t exist!” Yumeno pulled out the ‘three of clubs’ card from her pocket. “One thing we know for sure about this game is that there is a **_game master._** ” 

“Game master?”

“Someone came up with this game, that I’m super-duper sure of.”

Chabashira sighed, rubbing her temple. “So while we were in the restroom, they moved all the people of Tokyo away, then forced them into this game?”

“They keep track of our movements and… fire lasers into people’s heads when their time is up.”

“...What kind of person would do that..?” Chabashira frowned.

“I dunno, but it is certainly possible if they inserted a highly accurate GPS microchip into our bodies,” Iruma said.

“But… who in the world would be behind this?”

“Hm… could it be the federal government? What did the Americans call it… a Purge?” Yonaga suggested.

“There were some rumors I heard when traveling… an IT corporation from Europe wants to conduct an experiment where there is an established VR space. They attempt to create a world identical to the real world. Ah!! I knew there was something fishy going on!”

The idea was crazy, yet possible. Though why was it the European government doing this experiment on the Japanese people, maybe even the rest of the world as well? 

“But shouldn’t we be able to distinguish VR from reality?” Chabashira asked.

Yonaga winced, reaching her hand towards her injured leg. Pain shot her body and she used her other hand to grip the table. “Ah, hehe… this is rather… ehm..”

Yumeno knitted her eyebrows. “I don’t think VR causes  _ those  _ kinds of burns…” Yonaga picked her head up and looked at them with a pained smile. “Maybe it’s… Atua… This has to be Atua’s work… I mean, maybe he’s keeping things from me and.. He’s th-the one doing all of this… wh-wh-what else would it be?”

The idea of these killing games coming to light because of the artist’s god is… subjective. Yonaga truly believes in her god, so it's normal she would say something like that. Of course, the others didn't think so since they have different beliefs. 

“...Don’t be stupid, Yonaga. There’s no way it can be your degenerate male of a god.”

“Maybe it really is the work of Atua… punishing the people… for--” Yonaga grimaced, beginning to pant heavily. The pain was definitely getting worse. 

“Hey, is your… injury getting worse?” Iruma asked.

She just sniggered, shaking her head. “I-It’s alright…I’ll be fine… Atua is taking care… of me..”

The worry spread all across Yumeno’s face as she wondered about Yonaga’s safety and if she’ll do okay, as well as this… game, or games that they all were being forced into. The game master… is there really one? Maybe there is, but they'll only find out if they finish these games, which is exactly what they’re going to do.

  
  


**~**

  
  


“Nyeh… I really think Yona-chan needs to see a doctor…” 

Yumeno and Chabashira travel to Miu’s upper floor to the roof where they kind of just talked about the events of yesterday and whatnot. The topic strayed to Yonaga and her injury, causing them both to worry once again about how she’ll survive this.

“You… know how she is… She’s probably enduring a lot more pain than she makes it out to be… augh, I could have used my magic!”

“Yumeno,“ The two stare out into the wild, dark blue from near the edge of the building. She looked at her best friend. “Let’s join the next game, but just the two of us.”

‘Nyeh?? What...?! But we got three days left on our visas!”

“It’s better to get used to these games than dwindle on our time. Tenko... Tenko doesn’t think Yonaga will be able to get through the next game with her injured leg…”

She was right. There was  _ no way  _ Yonaga would survive the next game with an injured leg. Who even knows what the next game could be? Maybe it’s even more dangerous than the last one!

“If we don’t learn how to clear the games on our own, we won’t be able to protect Yonaga.”

“Y-You’re right, but…”

“Maybe we can search for a doctor too, who knows? We can meet more people in the games and get their help!”

Yumeno was clearly traumatized from the last game, and the thought of going through that again just… scares her. She didn’t want someone else to die and she will not be able to do anything; Maybe she sees one of her classmates, her friends, and watching them die-- she didn’t want to experience that again.

But the visas… if they don’t play, then…

“Do we have to play? At… least right now?”

“Hey, look, maybe we’ll get an idea of what the game is about!”

Yumeno sighed. Chabashira knew how she felt about all of this. She hated the situation too, but what else are they supposed to do? It’s either play these games or die on the expiration date of their visas. Pretty sure they DON’T want that.

“Well, I… guess… if we play, we could maybe find out the game master’s signature.”

“Signature?’

‘Well, yeah. If there’s really a game master of this game, then we can find out characteristics through the games. If we can discover that, we might be able to figure out a strategy for this game! Of course, I could always use my magic…”

  
  
  


**~**

  
  
  
  


The new game had just recently opened up; Toei Sendagaya Apartments was the next location for the next game the two friends had to participate in. 

Harukawa approached the dimly lit building, staring up at the place calmly. This wasn’t new for her, of course. She knew what was going to go down, and that’s why she’s prepared to brace for the worst-- just, how worse will… this get?

She walked up the steps of the establishment, walking past the  _ borderline  _ and approaching the entrance where she saw several people standing with phones, waiting for the game to start. They all just stared at her for a moment, which lowkey spooked her. She recognized a few faces from her high-school, Hope’s Peak Academy. In fact, one of the girl’s face lit up when she saw her and she waved at her. 

“Harukawa-san, hi!!!”

Harukawa furrowed her eyebrows, walking towards the table with the phone. “Hello, Asahina-san.” She picked up a phone and the facial recognition began.

  
  


_ There are currently ten participants. _

_ Please wait until the game commences. _

_ One minute until registration closes. _

  
  


The guy with goggles on his head walked up to Harukawa. His hair was an eye-bleeding pink and he had this black mechanic suit on. It was hard to tell, but it was obvious who he was. “H-Hey! Harukawa-san, d-do you know where, uh… all the people went?”

Without warning, a woman walked in between them towards the table and she picked up a phone. Well that was pretty rude of them. Ever heard of ‘excuse me.’?

The guy looked back at Harukawa. “This thing--”

“There’s a lot of people here. Maybe one of them is a doctor.”

Chabashira and Yumeno finally get to their destination and immediately stop at the sight of Harukawa. Chabashira’s face lit up as she bounced on her heels. “Harukawa!”

“Nyeh, I didn’t expect to see you here, Harukawa.”

“Oh, Chabashira, Yumeno… good to… see you.”

“Yay! Another comrade to come alongside us?”

“I never said anything like that.”

Yumeno brushed past the women and grabbed two phones from the table, handing one to Chabashira. She took it and immediately looked at it for facial recognition. Arms embraced the Aikido master, squeezing the girl tight. 

“Chabashira!”

Chabashira looked to see that it was Asahina who was hugging the breath out of her. The swimmer looked awfully happy to see her.

“Asahina!!”

“I didn’t think I’d see you, hi!!! And hello to you too, Yumeno!”

“Nyeh, hey.”

“Uhm, g-guys?”

Chabashira saw the mechanic and glared at him. “Oh, I remember you, degenerate…”

“O-Oh! Oh it’s… it’s you... “ Souda and Chabashira of course knew each other from Hope’s Peak. She would often fling him across the hallway every-time he’d try and hit on Nevermind Sonia, the Ultimate Princess. Chabashira was quite the woman-protector.

Asahina let go of Chabashira and skipped over to Ogami. Chabashira followed and greeted Ogami with much excitement. The other strangers just kept to themselves, waiting for the registration to end. Yumeno was just left with Souda and Harukawa. Yumeno had to take a look at everyone here though. A random guy in a jean jacket, two men; one in casual wear and one in formal attire. Her eyes fell on a certain woman leaning against the wall with her hands in her pockets. Looking closer, she noticed the freckles and the short black hair. She looked similar to a certain super high-school level fashionista that also went to Hope’s Peak. 

Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier.

She didn’t bother talking to her though. She didn’t feel the need to.

Looking around at everyone again one last time and her eyes locked on a certain guy on the other side. His purple, spiky locks gave it away immediately and she was suddenly compelled to talk to him. 

But unfortunately, she couldn’t because the chime on their phones sounded and they all looked down.

  
  


_ Registration has closed. _

_ There are a total of thirteen participants. _

_ The game will now commence. _

  
  
  


Dread settling within the magician as she heard of the word ‘game’. The trauma from the last game is brought back to see the light once again, which she absolutely  _ loathed,  _ but they had to keep going, they  _ had  _ to keep playing, or else, they’ll…

“Uh, hey, Yumeno-san…”

Yumeno turned to Souda who had his phone in hand and was pointing to the screen. “What is this? Do you know what’s going on?”

“Uh, it’s a game.”

“A game? What.... this? Uh…”

Harukawa then spoke to him. “Yes, a game, like she said. It’s not that hard to understand.”

“Geez, I was just asking… I don’t even know how I got here? Don’t blame me!”

  
  


_ Difficulty: _

**_Five of Spades._ **

  
  


_ Five of Spades? So this must be a different difficulty… _

“Five of Spades??” 

Chabashira joined Yumeno again, wanting to try and protect her this round again. 

“Strength is everything here!”

A man approached the group with a, in my opinion, very suspicious smile. Chabashira, still not too trusting of men, put an arm out in front of Yumeno as if to protect her.

“I’m Nitobe. Nice to meet you!” He stuck his hand out to shake, but Chabashira just glared at him. It was clear his presence was unwanted, at least it was clear for Chabashira. Instead, Yumeno took the hand and shook it. 

“Each mark has a different meaning?”

“Exactly!”

Nitobe and Yumeno firmly shook hands. Chabashira was still glaring at the man in case he tried anything, which I highly doubt he would in front of all those people, and especially in front of Chabashira.

“The mark on a trump card signifies the game’s genre. Clubs refer to a team battle, Diamonds refer to a battle of wits, As for Heart… it’s the most  _ troublesome _ .”

“Nyeh? What do you mean by ‘troublesome’?”

“It’s a game of betrayal where you  _ play with people’s hearts. _ ”

“Play with people's hearts?!” Chabashira’s eyes bugged out.

Sweat beaded the magician’s brow as she lingered on the sentence. Well, it’s kind of expected since it’s a Hearts game. What, you thought there was gonna be romance involved? 

“What about the numbers?”

“The difficulty level.” He stepped away for a minute. “The larger the number, the harder it is to complete.”

The phone’s chime had sounded from its speakers to announce the details of the game.

  
  


_ Game: _

_ A Game of Tag. _

_ Rule: _

_ Run away from the tagger. _

  
  


“A game of tag?”

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, even though words could not be perceived clearly, Yumeno could tell they were anxious and very afraid of the situation. A game of tag? That doesn’t seem so bad, but given how bad the last “game” she and Chabashira participated in, she could tell this one was going to be even worse than the last one; the most they could do is be mentally prepared for the worst, but her traumatized brain was sending signals- and yet she ignored them. 

“Who’s the tagger?” Yumeno asked Chabashira.

“How should I know?” Chabashira replied.

  
  


_ Clear Condition: _

_ Discover the safezone hidden in one of the  _

_ building rooms within the time limit. _

_ You clear the game when this objective is fulfilled. _

_ Time Limit: _

_ twenty minutes. _

_ After twenty minutes has passed, the time bomb _

_ hidden in the building will explode. _

  
  
  


_ A… time… bomb? Explode…? _

“Ohhh… when they said it was gonna be difficult, I didn’t think it meant… this difficult…”

“How haven’t you considered this a possibility?” Harukawa asked, looking at Chabashira. “You’ve played one of these games, right?”

“Ah, well… yeah, but this is…”

“As expected.”

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was that, eh? Good enough for you guys? Good! I was pretty excited to bring those characters into the story. I really think their characters resemble the original characters of Alice in Borderland really well. 
> 
> Anywho, this is the end of Episode 2! Stay tuned for Episode 3, that's where it gets EVEN CRAZIER. The craziness continues!

**Author's Note:**

> We have reached the end of Episode 1. So I have established Amacha in the story, as well as a hint of Saimatsu of course. There won't be Oumeno because of how I set up characters. I tried to have it match their personalities or almost match, I dunno, so sorry Oumeno fans!! :(( Don't worry, I'll make a long romance fic for Oumeno just to make up! In... the future, hopefully.
> 
> Episode 2 is in the making, so stay tuned for that! ;)


End file.
